Section 29 Perfection of Appeal Before the Public Service Commission

• Library: Administrative Law 2011

After the PSC has issued an order or decision, certain procedural steps must be followed to perfect the right to an appeal. The first is filing an “application for rehearing” before the effective date of the order or decision. Section 386.500, RSMo 2000. Section 386.490.3, RSMo 2000, provides that an order or decision of the PSC “shall of its own force take effect and become operative thirty days after the service thereof” unless the PSC provides otherwise. The PSC often provides for an effective date of less than 30 days, in most cases approximately 10 days. This is done as a matter of convenience for the parties because the parties cannot proceed until the order or decision is effective.

Sometimes an effective date of less than 30 days presents a problem for parties dissatisfied with the PSC’s order or decision because it shortens the time in which they must prepare and file their application for rehearing. Several Missouri cases deal with the lawfulness of PSC orders or decisions that are effective in less than 30 days. In State ex rel. Kansas City, Independence & Fairmount Stage Lines Co. v. Public Service Commission, 63 S.W.2d 88, 93 (Mo. 1933), the Supreme Court stated that an order effective 10 days after its issuance was not unlawful. But in State ex rel. St. Louis County v. Public Service Commission, 228 S.W.2d 1, 2 (Mo...